Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal has confirmed her wedding date with badminton player Parupalli Kashyap. The duo will get married on December 16 this year, as that is the only day in Saina’s calendar when she will be free from her otherwise hectic training schedule.

Speaking to TOI, Saina said that she will be occupied with Premier Badminton League December 20 onwards, soon after which the Tokyo Games qualifiers will begin. “So this was the only date that we had to get married,” she said.

Saina talked about her and Parupalli’s decade-long relationship and their journey until deciding to get married.

The duo started travelling for bigger tours around 2007-08, which meant that they trained together, played tournaments together and with time, started paying more attention to each other’s game.

India's star shuttler Saina Nehwal went down fighting 21-12, 17-21, 10-21 to Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in the semi-final of the World Badminton Championships on Saturday. Even though Saina couldn't make it to the final of the tournament, she took home a well deserved bronze medal. Going into the match, Saina was aiming to extend her 6-1 head-to-head advantage over the Japanese but her opponent proved to be a tough nut to crack. Despite her loss, Twitteratti hailed Saina's bronze winning performance and showered praise on her.